अस्तु तावत्शुद्धभक्त्याभासस्य वार्त्ता । अपराधत्वेन दृश्यमानोऽप्यसौ महाप्रभावो दृश्यते । … अथ श्रीभगवद्वशीकारितायामपि सकृदल्पप्रयासात्मिकाया अपि भक्तेः कारणता दृश्यते । तदेवं यथार्थ एव तन्माहात्म्ये सत्यपि यत्र सम्प्रति तत्तद्भजनफलोदयो न दृश्यते, कुत्रचिच्छास्त्रे च पुरातनानामप्यन्यथा श्रूयते तत्र नामार्थवादकल्पना वैष्णवानादरादयो दुरन्ता अपराधा एव प्रतिबन्धकारणं वक्तव्यम् । … यथा प्रायेणाधुनिकानाम् … तादृशापराधे भक्तिस्तम्भश् … । अतः … आवृत्तिरसकृदुपदेशातित्यादौ च पुरुषाणां प्रायः सापराधत्वाभिप्रायेणैवावृत्तिविधानम् । … अत्रापराधालम्बनत्वेनैव वर्तमानानां पापवासनानां सहैवापराधेन नाश इति तात्पर्यम् । एतादृशप्रतिबन्धापेक्षयैवोक्तं विष्णुधर्मे—रागादिदूषितं चित्तं नास्पदं मधुसूदने । बध्नाति न रतिं हंसः कदाचित् कर्दमाम्बुनि ॥ न योग्या केशवं स्तोतुं वाग्दुष्टा चानृतादिना । तमसो नाशनायालं नेन्दोर्लेखा घनावृता ॥ इति । सिद्धानामावृत्तिस्तु प्रतिपदमेव सुखविशेषोदयार्था । असिद्धानामावृत्तिनियमः फलपर्याप्तिपर्यन्तस्तदन्तरायेऽपराधावस्थितिवितर्कात् ।
astu tāvat śuddha-bhakty-ābhāsasya vārttā | aparādhatvena dṛśyamāno’py asau mahā-prabhāvo dṛśyate | … atha śrī-bhagavad-vaśīkāritāyām api sakṛd alpa-prayāsātmikāyā api bhakteḥ kāraṇatā dṛśyate | tad evaṁ yathārtha eva tan-māhātmye saty api yatra samprati tat-tad-bhajana-phalodayo na dṛśyate, kutracic chāstre ca purātanānām apy anyathā śrūyate tatra nāmārthavāda-kalpanā vaiṣṇavānādarādayo durantā aparādhā eva pratibandha-kāraṇaṁ vaktavyam | … yathā prāyeṇādhunikānām … tādṛśāparādhe bhakti-stambhaś … | ataḥ … āvṛttir asakṛd-upadeśāt ity-ādau ca puruṣāṇāṁ prāyaḥ sāparādhatvābhiprāyeṇaivāvṛtti-vidhānam | … atrāparādhālambanatvenaiva vartamānānāṁ pāpa-vāsanānāṁ sahaivāparādhena nāśa iti tātparyam | etādṛśa-pratibandhāpekṣayaivoktaṁ viṣṇu-dharme—rāgādi-dūṣitaṁ cittaṁ nāspadaṁ madhusūdane | badhnāti na ratiṁ haṁsaḥ kadācit kardamāmbuni || na yogyā keśavaṁ stotuṁ vāg duṣṭā cānṛtādinā | tamaso nāśanāyālaṁ nendor lekhā ghanāvṛtā || iti | siddhānām āvṛttis tu pratipadam eva sukha-viśeṣodayārthā | asiddhānām āvṛtti-niyamaḥ phala-paryāpti-paryantas tad-antarāye’parādhāvasthiti-vitarkāt |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 153)
“Let alone mention of a semblance of pure bhakti [itself], this [i.e., a semblance of pure bhakti] appearing even with the characteristic of being an aparādha is seen to possess great power [e.g., a mouse which performed the act of waving a ghee wick before a deity in the course of trying to remove the wick from its mouth became reborn as a queen with niṣṭhā for the bhakti-sādhana of offering ghee lamps to Bhagavān and then attained Bhagavān’s abode]. … Furthermore, even a single act of bhakti constituted of slight effort being a cause even of bringing Śrī Bhagavān under control is seen [in accounts related in śāstra]. … Therefore, even though its [i.e., bhakti’s] greatness is indeed real, where the manifestation of the result of various types of bhajana is not seen, and in some śāstras where otherwise [i.e., non-attainment of such results] is heard of even in the case of ancient persons, there [i.e., in those cases] it is to be said that the difficult to overcome aparādhas of arthavāda and kalpanā regarding the name, disregard for Vaiṣṇavas, and so forth, are alone the cause of obstruction [of the results of bhakti becoming manifest]. … As for the most part in the case of people of the present-day … because such aparādha is present, there is obstruction of bhakti [i.e., non-manifestation of bhakti’s effects]. … Thus, injunctions [in śāstra] for repetition [of bhakti-sādhana practices], such as (VS 4.1.1), ’Repetition [of sādhana practices] should be done repeatedly because of instructions [to do so in the śāstra]’ (āvṛttir asakṛd upadeśāt), carry the import that people in general are implicated in aparādha. … Here [i.e., in regard to bhakti-sādhana’s purification of aparādha], the intention is that there occurs destruction of [one’s] present inclinations (vāsanās) for sin (pāpa), which are entirely based on [previously committed] aparādhas, along with the aparādhas themselves. Specifically in regard to such obstruction [i.e., the obstruction of bhakti’s effects by aparādha], there is a statement in the Viṣṇu-dharma: ‘A heart polluted by attachment (rāga) and so forth is not a place for Madhusūdana, as a swan is never bound by affection to muddy water. Speech contaminated by untruth and so forth is unfit to praise Keśava, as the rays of the moon blocked by clouds are not able to dispel darkness.’ The repetition [of bhakti-sādhana practices, such as hearing of and praising Bhagavān] of siddhas [i.e., siddha-bhaktas in contrast to non-siddhas, that is, people in general and sādhakas, as discussed above], on the contrary, is a result of the manifestation of special joy at every moment [which they experience as a result of engaging in bhakti]. The regulation [given in śāstra] of repetition for non-siddhas is [applicable] up to attainment of the result [i.e., up to the attainment of siddhi in bhakti] because the existence of aparādha is conjectured when obstruction to it [i.e., to the manifestation of the effect of bhakti] is present.”